by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Argo continues to shake up the Oscar race by taking the top honor at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday.

Ben Affleck, coming off winning Golden Globe Awards for best motion picture drama and director for the real-life drama, received the award handed out at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I'm still working as an actor," he said in his acceptance speech.

Affleck also stars in Argo as the CIA operative who orchestrated a daring rescue of six American embassy employees during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. George Clooney and Grant Heslov share the producer award with Affleck as Argo beat out the Civil War saga Lincoln, which has a leading 12 Academy Awards nominations.

Other nominees in the PGA movie category were Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Moonrise Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook, and Skyfall.

Along with honors from other Hollywood professional groups such as actors, directors and writers guilds, the producer prizes have become part of the preseason sorting out contenders for Academy Awards.

The big winner often goes on to claim the best-picture honor at the Oscars on Feb. 24.